Ipswich Duo gain US scholarships

It has been a very busy summer for the UK’s elite as yet another two players have just gained scholarships to the US, highlighting the crop of talent coming through.

Luke Mascall-Wright (ranked #4) will be attending North Iowa Area Community College where his teammate Sam Newman (ranked #20) has signed with NCAA D2 school Cal State LA.

6ft 4″ shooting guard Mascall-Wright was the leading scorer at the DENG camp with 20.67 PPG displaying a whole array of offensive skills and athleticism helping him to being one of the stand out players and justifying why he landed a spot on the Great Britain U20 Squad. Luke has been gaining more respect as his young career is starting to develop where each year he keeps growing from strength to strength where his highlight tape from DENGTOP50 can be seen below.

On the other hand, 6ft 3″ combo guard Sam Newman comes from a different path to his teammate where his name has only just recently been coming to the forefront. Newman squeezed onto the DENG camp via the reserve list but wasted no time in shining from the very first day, hungry to cement a name for himself and that he deserved to play amongst the UK’s best. Camp Commissioner and most capped British Player ever, Ronnie Baker lends an insight into how quickly a player can emerge through projects such as DENGTOP50.

“Sam really impressed me from day one with his skill set and feel for the game with a very mature head on his shoulders. He was one of the youngest players at the camp but that didn’t phase him where he surprised many people which goes to show if you really believe in yourself and work hard, great things can happen.”

The new rankings placed Newman on the #20 spot reflecting how much his game has continued to elevate since the DENG camp where a lot of credit is down to himself as well as Coach Nick Drane at his club who has been a great support system to both Sam and Luke on their move to the US. Camp Director, Steve Vear advocates just how important the move to the Top 50 format is truly providing an exposure platform for the UK’s elite.

“We are thrilled for both Luke and Sam as more and more UK kids from all over the country are gaining US scholarships. We stay on top of all enquiries about any of the Top 50 kids where the staff at Cal State LA were very easy to deal with on providing as much information we could on Sam. I’m delighted they decided to offer him a scholarship as he is such a great kid, has unreal potential and really deserves this under the watchful eye of Coach Drane.”

We want to congratulate both Luke and Sam on their scholarships, with another two players off to the US to represent UK hoops. Well done guys!